Throughout the world, there are people working diligently to remove barriers in our waterways that hinder the migration of fish seeking to spawn. This is of crucial importance since these fish on the move play a fundamental ecological role, providing an abundant food source for predators and moving nutrients from the ocean to the land. It takes incredible persistence (and a healthy dose of luck) for an anadromous fish to go from egg to tiny fry to ocean-going adult, back to its birth stream to produce the next generation. Often, the process of removing fish barriers takes just as much persistence.

In the case of Pinole Creek, it took a series of three projects over 25years, with a myriad of interested parties and partners, to rid the creek of all blockages for our threatened Steelhead trout, whose life cycle includes migrating to the ocean as adults, as opposed to Rainbow trout that stay in fresh water ecosystems their whole lives. In 2017, the I-80 Fish Passage Project replaced a box culvert, difficult for fish to pass through, with a fish ladder that allows fish to rest behind concrete baffles as they make their way under the freeway. Just a year later, a lucky disaster upstream, the failure of the culvert at the Pinole“Y”, offered the opportunity to replace that piece of problem infrastructure with a bridge that allows fish to pass. This past fall, the Tomato Stand Fish Passage Project in the upper watershed replaced another culvert with a bridge, removing the final barrier to Steelhead and opening up another 1.4 miles of upstream spawning habitat. This season, East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) biologists counted five Steelhead redds (nests of eggs) upstream of the new project, the most they have encountered in Pinole Creek in 15 years of monitoring!

To honor the newly free-flowing creek, for the second consecutive year, the CCRCD will celebrate Contra Costa Fish Migration Day at the I-80 Fish Passage on May 30th from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. This is our local celebration of World Fish Migration Day, an international, biennial event that aims to spread awareness about migratory fish and the importance of free flowing rivers. Our event will include a discussion panel of experts sharing their insights from projects to remove fish barriers, educational activities, music, vendors, and more! Folks will be able to sign up for tours of both the I-80 Fish Passage and the Tomato Stand Project upstream. A wide variety of environmental organizations will be in attendance. We hope to celebrate our hard-working migratory fish and the even harder working people who serve them with you all on May30th!!